Ericka Chambers Norman JD ‘97 died on January 12, 2010.  Ericka was a loyal and carrying woman who stood out for her warm, welcoming smile. Norman, 41, was part of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. She was in the UN offices in Port-Au-Prince when the Jan. 12 earthquake struck and the building collapsed, friends said. Her body was recovered Jan. 17. Norman grew up in Pomona, and it was at Marshall Junior High School, as the school was known then, that she and Vickers-McKinney met. The two went on to attend Pomona High, where as a senior Norman was elected senior class president.  After graduation Norman went on to Smith College where, according to a college statement, she graduated in 1991 earning a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies and international law. Norman was someone who seemed to have wisdom beyond her years. After joining the UN, Norman organized gatherings at her home during the holidays. She invited her colleagues, knowing they would be without their families in the United States. After graduating from Smith, Norman moved to Boston, where Washington lived, and later enrolled at Santa Clara University Law School in Northern California. Norman enjoyed traveling and was interested in learning about other cultures. Norman would plan ahead and knew where she was going and what the conditions would be like, her friend said. Once she arrived at her destination she "met other people and engaged other cultures," her friend Stacy Washington said.  During her junior year in college Norman studied in Japan. While in law school she participated in an internship that took her to Malaysia and Singapore. After completing law school Norman returned to New York where she practiced corporate law.

She began looking at the United Nations after another friend joined the agency. Her first assignment sent her to Kosovo, Washington said.  It was through her work with the UN that Norman met her husband, Alvin Norman, an engineer with the UN, Washington said.  Ericka Chambers Norman was listed as a board of inquiry officer for the UN. Her job at the beginning of her career involved administrative work, but recently it had begun to include more of her legal knowledge. Norman is survived by her husband Alvin, a two-and-a-half year old daughter; her father, Ernest Chambers, and stepmother, Paulette Chambers, of Seattle; and her mother, Barbara Lott, of Seattle.